Shudder
by LadySchadenfreude
Summary: When time can be bent and broken, there will be timelines left without a hero. Tael waits for his sister, in a world too late to save.  Rated for strongly implied character death.


**[[Tael.]]**

On the first day, the sun shone.

On the second day, it rained.

On the third day, it trembled.

No, really. You might think I'm saying that for _drama_ or something, but I'm not. Really, the whole world was shaking.

I had a great view of it, too. Couldn't be beat. Me and Skull Kid could see all of Termina spread beneath us, and all of the sky spread above us.

Well, Skull Kid only saw it through a pair of wide, painted eyes.

As night fell on that third day, I shook my wings, flinging a little dew off them. By the Giants, I was really starting to hate that clock tower. Any time I tried to sit, I could feel the vibrations of the clockwork shivering through the wood. When I hovered in the air above, I still couldn't get that stupid _ticking_ out of my head.

And Skull Kid hovered beside me.

"H-hey… D'you mind if I… leave or something?" I'd asked that question a handful of times over the last few days. I never got a real answer, though.

Skull Kid floated back to stare at me. "You're my _friend_," he said slowly, as though he didn't think I knew that.

I bounced up and down in a jerky nod, and went back to hovering, cold and wet and nervous.

"Sis's our friend, too," I said, though I didn't like how thin my voice sounded.

Skull Kid glared blankly at me.

"I mean…. S-she'll figure something out."

Skull Kid pretty plainly didn't see that there _was_ anything to figure out, but floating there with a Skull Kid who giggled when the world shivered… I was scared.

_Sis…_

* * *

><p><strong>[[Tatl.]]<strong>

The frozen, rocky dirt beneath the kid's boots trembled. The kid did likewise, poor thing.

"Okay, okay, you got the stupid mask, can we get out of here already?"

Idiot was still staring at the thing like he'd never seen anything like it.

And, okay, I'd never exactly beaten up a giant, mechanical goat-god and been given a mask for it either, but this kid was _terrible_ at hiding his shock.

"And take that stupid mask off. You're a terrible Goron. And it's creepy."

He didn't do either, just began carefully packing Goht's mask away in his bag. The whole cavern lurched like it was about to give way.

"Look, it's…" I glanced up at a convenient hole in the ceiling, so I could see the stars outside. Except, I couldn't see the stars. One of the moon's red eyes covered up the hole entirely. "It's probably only a few minutes to moon-touchdown. We don't have_ time _for this. Just play that stupid Song of Time so we can start this mess over."

Geez, I felt like I could hear the panicked screams all the way from Clock Town. I knew that was where Tael was – Tael _and_ Skull Kid. They were waiting for us on top of the Clock Tower, no shelter from that stupid moon. And we weren't going to be there, not this time-cycle.

When the kid finally finished rummaging around in his bag again he was human again, and he had his Ocarina in hand. Maybe it was just him coming down off the battle's adrenaline high, but he looked scared, too.

And why not? We were seconds from _the end_, and only some kid with a glorified _flute_ could save us.

"Look on the bright side," I kidded nervously as he put the instrument to his lips. "Only three more days of me. Again."

_I'll be there, Tael. Once we rewind time – you won't feel a thing_.

* * *

><p><strong>[[Tael.]] <strong>

Now, I could feel the shudders in the air – and that wasn't just dramatic wording, either.

Though the moon's quiet screams pushed down to us by wind – that, I was just hoping was my imagination.

"Skull Kid," I whispered.

He didn't react. Too far gone to care, I figured.

The bells that heralded midnight had long since rung. I could taste gunpowder in the air, but the fireworks had sizzled out hours ago. The stairs had long since descended.

"Skull Kid, _please_. This is stupid, they're not coming!"

He looked at me, only he really _didn't_. Skull Kid's eyes were yellow, yeah, but they weren't like that mask.

Termina trembled again, and when I looked out over the town, I could see dawn breaking toward Ikana.

_Swamp. Mountain. Ocean. Canyon. Hurry… The four who are there… Bring them here…_

I knew what I had to _say_, but there was no one to say it _to._ I wanted to scream for Sis to hurry up. I wanted to scream for Skull Kid to snap out of it. I wanted to scream for dawn not to break.

The sun rose. The world shuddered one last time.

And my view of Termina couldn't be beat: rocks falling, moon crashing, fire blazing, just before the pain and heat took everything.

* * *

><p><strong>[[Tatl.]]<strong>

When I opened my eyes again, it was just like all those other times.

Just me and the kid again, the moon backtracked to where it ought to be – three days before it was gonna fall.

_And _stay_ there,_ I thought, turning to look up at the stupid hunk of rock.

That put the Clock Tower in my view. I knew Tael was up there, waiting again. He'd be there – safe – until I could get to him.

"Everything's… started over," I mumbled, this time to myself, before I flitted off after my little idiot-hero.

* * *

><p>AN: Yeah, I know it was probably confusing. I was going off the developers' Word of God: when time is messed with in the Zelda 'verse (or at least in OoT), new timelines get created. Applying that to MM: every time the player uses the Song of Time to rewind back to the first day, all the denizens of Termina that they left behind are still there, and without Link, they're going to die. I'm really hoping that was clear in-story. I tried to make it so, but when neither character actually _knows _this…

Still. Can you imagine the sheer Fridge Horror, should Link or Tatl ever figure out how many times over they've killed their friends? *shudder* (And it's not like MM _needs_ to be any creepier.)

Anyways, I hope this made sense, and I hope you enjoyed it. Constructive criticism is always appreciated.


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